


Look Into Your Eyes

by panicking



Series: The Sky's The Limit [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BB-8 is a bull terrier and she is adorable, Han Solo/Leia Organa - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-16 04:04:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5813377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicking/pseuds/panicking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Finn falls helplessly in love with his boss's new pilot, to Rey's general amusement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively titled, "Poe is hot and Finn is helpless." Title from the song Helpless from the musical Hamilton.

The sky was darker than it had been for the past few months, as summer had decided it was tired and needed to rest. The air still felt warm, enough to keep Finn comfortable as he spent several minutes wrestling with the lock before barging into the apartment. Rey turned from her seat on the couch with mild alarm.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“All right? Yes, I am all right. I am perfectly fine,” he replied, throwing his keys in the bowl and flopping onto the couch dramatically. Rey raised her eyebrows skeptically, then rose to make dinner and give Finn space to spread out.

“How was work?” She began carefully chopping green onions for scrambled eggs, as breakfast food was Finn’s preferred comfort food. Finn groaned, then sat up and turned to face her over the back of the couch.

“You know how Leia’s old pilot, Chewie, decided that he’d retire and work with Han?” Rey rolled her eyes because yes, she did know, because she worked with Chewie. 

“Well, Leia finally hired a new pilot -- he used to do stunt pilot stuff but decided that he wanted a more structured job so he just does his stunt piloting on the side -- and he’s gorgeous, Rey. He’s so gorgeous. His hair is so nice and his face is amazing and wow.” Finn paused, throwing a hand behind him over the armchair of the couch.

Rey walked over to Finn a few moments later and set two full plates on the coffee table near him. She sat beside him and ate one-handed so she could pet his hair, murmuring words of comfort. Despite her best efforts to distract him, Finn continued to regale her with tales of the extraordinarily attractive pilot for the rest of the night.

+++++

The next day, Rey parked her red motorcycle behind the Kessel Run, Han’s mechanic shop, and walked in. The familiar disarray of spare parts and extra wrenches comforted her and made her realize, again, that this was where she was meant to be. Two years ago, Rey had freshly graduated from trade school with nowhere to go, no family, no friends, and no work prospects to speak of. So she rented an apartment with flickering lights and irreparably stained carpet and began working in a nearly abandoned car lot, doing odd jobs for her neighbors when she could. 

For a while, Rey scraped by with no savings and barely any material goods until, one day, she met Finn in a coffee shop. She had not been paying attention to where she was going and neither had he, and they quite literally ran into each other, sparking convoluted apologies and an immediate friendship. A month later, she and Finn pooled their minimal savings and moved into a much nicer apartment, complete with two bedrooms and a stainless steel kitchen.

Through Finn’s boss, Senator Leia Organa, Rey met Han Solo, Leia’s husband. A day later, he offered her a job helping out at the Kessel Run, which she immediately accepted. She had been working there ever since and loved every minute of it, with Han turning from a craggy, blustering boss to a kind of surrogate father.

“Hey, kid,” said Han, gruff as a teddy bear. He was elbow deep in some old pet project of his that he kept calling baby. Occasionally, Chewie would mutter something about the Millennium Falcon, but never enough to give Rey any hints of the piece of junk’s former glory. 

She smiled at Han and continued to her usual perch in the front of the garage. She waved at Chewie, Han’s overly tall, extraordinarily hairy friend with an accent so thick that barely anyone could understand him. Once she reached her seat, she began cleaning off old pieces of scrap metal, her daily chore. 

The day progressed as normal, with a steady flow of customers coming in and out, either to grab specific parts for themselves or to leave their vehicles in the considerably more capable hands of the Kessel Run staff. Han ran a good business and talked a good game, but being the husband of one of the most adored United States senators of all time was definitely good for PR. 

Around one o'clock, Rey looked around, and, seeing no new customers, joined Chewie and Han in the back room for her lunch break. They ate in near silence for a few minutes, taking a break from reacting to demanding customers. After a short while, Rey broke the silence.

“Chewie, did you ever find out who was going to replace you as Leia’s pilot?” Chewie, mouth full of food, nodded and continued chewing without elaborating. Rey looked to Han for an explanation.

“You mean Poe Dameron? Yeah, we know him. One of the best pilots around, if I’m honest. Got an bold streak a mile wide. Before Leia looked into a new pilot I’d heard of him because he did some stunt piloting a while back. Still in action, if I remember correctly. I had Luke and Wedge check him out properly before I let Leia hire him. He’s a good kid, that one. I trust him, hate to say it.”

Rey smiled through her mouth full of salad, her bff forever duties fulfilled for the moment. 

“Why?” asked Han a moment later, squinting slightly at her.

“Oh, Finn was talking about Leia’s new pilot and I was curious.” Rey finished her salad before looking at Han. 

“He was, was he? Finn’s a good kid. Bit overexcited, like a puppy.” 

Rey snorted. Overexcited puppy was probably one of the better ways to describe Finn. After the trio finished eating, Rey moved back to her stool to consider what she had learned. Poe seemed like an acceptable object for Finn’s affection, if what Han said was true. Which it normally was, when concerning Leia.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise that I have all of this written and edited now, so this should update every week!

“Rey? Is that you?” called Finn the moment Rey opened the door. The sun was low in the sky and she could smell the night air, but it was still undeniably summer.

“Who else would it be?” she responded, kicking off her shoes. She had worked late that day, wanting to finish one last customer’s car before leaving. It had taken much longer than she expected, so she arrived home after Finn.

“Right, right. I need your help.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Rey as she walked into the living room, sitting on the piece of couch not occupied by Finn.

“What should I text him?”

“Text who?” Rey angled her body in an attempt to better see Finn’s phone but only managed to twist awkwardly.

“Poe. I got Poe Dameron’s number today.” Rey furrowed her eyebrows in surprise.

“You did?” It had been barely a week since Poe had been hired, and Finn had scarcely stopped agonizing over his beauty.

“Yeah, yeah. Leia told us that we should have each other’s numbers for safety reasons and whatnot because Poe is Leia’s, and therefore also my, pilot. Her words, not mine. Anyways, Poe gave me his number and told me to text him later so he can have mine, whenever’s good for me. And he was really chill about the whole thing, which was nice. But what should I text him?”

“Finn, just text him like he’s a friend.” Rey stood up and walked to the kitchen, hungry after a long day. Finn followed her, phone in hand.

“Rey, you’re literally my only friend. My closest friends aside from you are Leia, Han, and Chewie, in that order. And I can’t exactly text them,” Finn finished, his voice rising slightly at the end.

“Right, okay. Tell him that this is Finn, Senator Organa’s aide.”

“Just that? Okay, I can do this, I can do this. ‘Hey, this is Finn, Senator Organa’s aide.’ Is that good?” Finn asked, looking up at Rey, who was tossing a salad. 

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Okay. Okay, I sent that. Oh, my god. I just texted Poe Dameron and he’s gonna see that it’s all formal and he’ll think that I never want to talk to him.” Finn inhaled loudly, looking slightly wildly at Rey.

“Finn, calm down, okay? This is just being normal and texting a guy. He’ll see you tomorrow and you’ll show him your dazzling, sunshiney personality and he’ll know the real you.” Rey smiled and grabbed her bowl and Finn’s hand, leading the way back into the living room. They sat down and turned on the tv, flicking through various sports games before switching to Netflix and the original series of Star Trek. 

Halfway through the episode where half the crew turns into old people, Finn’s phone buzzed, startling them both. He picked it up and unlocked it, letting out a small yelp.

“He texted me back! He texted me back, Rey. He said, ‘hey buddy hows it going’ with a rocket emoji.” Finn smiled and looked wide-eyed at Rey. “That was fast, and fast is good, right?” Rey nodded and snatched his phone to read the text for herself.

“You should say something about how it’s going.”

“Wow, thank you so much for that sage advice,” said Finn, taking back his phone. “How about, ‘Pretty good, watching the original series of Star Trek with my roomie.’ Is that good?” Rey nodded, conceding that they were, in fact, watching Star Trek. At the moment, Captain Kirk was looking determined and talking to Doctor McCoy, as per usual.

Halfway through the next episode, Finn’s phone buzzed again. 

“He said, ‘i love star trek no way! fav episode is amok time, whats yours’ with all of the star emojis. All of them.” Finn looked at Rey. “I don’t know, what is my favorite Star Trek episode?”

“The first one with Khan?” suggested Rey.

“Yeah, that’s a good one, I’ll go with that. ‘Space Seed, I think. Amok Time is a classic, though.’ Is that good?” Rey smiled and nodded, prompting Finn to press send.

The rest of the evening passed in similar fashion, with Poe texting Finn every half hour or so. The conversation turned from Star Trek to roommates, where Rey featured prominently. Finn made sure to be clear that, however truly wonderful she was, she was not the object of any romantic endeavors. 

+++++

A cool breeze blew unnoticed by the window, taking with it the most eager of leaves to fall. Rey sat cross legged on the couch, eating leftover spaghetti and watching reruns of Chopped. Han had let her off of work early, citing that no one else was going to come in since it had been a slow day already and if they did need help then that was really their problem, wasn’t it?

In actuality, Rey knew that Han wanted to be home when Leia arrived from her day trip. And since Han did not want Rey to be the only one running the shop, he let her off early. Early enough to be halfway through her favorite episode, just as her least favorite contestant was chopped. 

Right as the awful contestant burst into tears, Rey heard the rattle and stomp of Finn unlocking the apartment door, tossing his keys in the bowl and unlacing his shoes before walking into the kitchen. Rey ignored her roommate, knowing that he could handle the kitchen on his own.

“Rey,” he called. “Did you eat all the spaghetti?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I really wanted some, that’s all.” Finn’s voice grew louder as he walked closer until he reached the couch and sat down next to Rey.

“Do you want a bite?”

Finn nodded, taking the proffered fork. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

Rey tilted her head slightly to look at Finn. He wore a tan leather jacket with two red stripes that fit him quite well.

“That’s not your jacket.” She turned to face him completely. “Where did you get that jacket?”

Finn smiled hugely, grabbing the remote and pausing the show to gain Rey’s full attention. “This is Poe’s jacket.”

“Poe Dameron? How did you-?”

“So it was pretty cold today, right? Well, actually, it started out warm. And so a lot of the time Poe walks us to the buildings if it’s within walking distance, I’m not really sure why but I guess he’s trying to be a good pilot? So he’s wearing this jacket like he always does when he’s not actively piloting, he really likes it and he looks really good in it, Rey, he looks really good in it.”

Rey rolled her eyes affectionately, taking a bite of spaghetti. Finn continued, undeterred.

“So at the building there’s a coat check that we all used and he used it to get us exactly where we needed to go and then he went back to the helicopter and would come pick us up once we were done with the town. 

“The thing took a few hours and then we went back out through the coat check and his jacket was still there so we grabbed it for him and I didn’t have a coat and it had gotten kind of cold by then, so Leia told me to wear his.” Finn swallowed, pausing.

“Leia told you to wear his jacket?” asked Rey. Finn nodded enthusiastically. 

“So we finish the town errands and finally we’re done so we meet Poe at the landing pad and I’d forgotten that I was wearing his jacket by then so we get in and get settled and fly back to Leia’s place. And we’re getting out of the helicopter when he stops me to ask how everything went and then he realizes that I’m wearing his jacket, so I start to take it off to give it back to him and he tells me no, no, keep it, it suits me.”

Rey raised her eyebrows, skeptical of the last sentence. Finn ignored her and continued.

“Then he bites his lip ridiculously. Why did he have to bite his lip? What purpose did that serve other than to make me suffer? And then he tells me that I’m a good man, punches me lightly, and walks off.”

Finn flopped back on to the couch, energy seemingly spent. 

“It smells so good, Rey. He smells amazing, like cinnamon, and,” Finn took a deep sniff of the jacket, briefly closing his eyes, “allspice? What kind of human smells this good?”

Rey smiled, reaching forward to feel the lapel. “Seems like he really likes you.”

“Poe is nice to everybody, he’s really sweet,” Finn protested, unconsciously crossing his arms.

“Not everybody gets -- is this specially made for him?” she asked, leaning back to get a better look. “Leather jackets from their pilots, especially ones as nice as this.”

Finn blushed at her use of the possessive, ducking his head and smiling. Rey smirked and reached across Finn for the remote.

Less than a minute later, Finn yelped. Rey paused the tv and looked at him with concern.

“Are you okay?”

“Poe just texted me.”

“Doesn’t that happen normally?”

“Not when I’m wearing his jacket that he’s texting me about.”

“What did he say?” Rey took a final bite of her spaghetti and waited for Finn to compose himself before reading the text aloud.

“‘jacket looks good on you, buddy’ and then a smiling emoji. Not the biggest smiling one but not the smallest smile either.” Finn looked at Rey with alarm. “What do I text him back?”

“Something about the jacket? Are you going to return it, or are you going to keep it forever? Also, he’s definitely flirting with you because no one gives someone their jacket and then tells them that they look good in it without being into them.”

Finn snorted and shook his head. “No, that’s not it at all. Okay, I’ll say, ‘Thanks, it’s super comfortable. I’ll give it back to you next time I see you.’ Is that good?”

Rey nodded and Finn pressed send on his phone before reaching over and resuming the tv. Barely a minute passed before Finn’s phone buzzed, causing him to jump. He unlocked his phone and stared at it for a moment before looking at Rey. She sighed and paused the tv again, raising an eyebrow and gesturing for Finn to explain.

“He says ‘no no no please keep it it looks better on you’ and then two helicopter emojis.” Finn looked at Rey, distressed. “I can’t keep his jacket. This isn’t mine, this is his!”

Rey laughed softly. “It looks like he really wants you to, Finn. What’s the harm? You said it smells amazing and it’s like wearing your boyfriend’s jacket.”

“Except that he’s not my boyfriend and is probably straight.” Finn groaned and sunk further into the couch. “Have I told you about his eyes? You should see his eyes. They’re the nicest brown I have seen in my entire life. And he’s so kind and nice and earnest, Rey. He’s so nice. Why is he so nice? What have I done to deserve this suffering?”

Rey patted him on the arm and then went to resume the tv. She had, in fact, heard about Poe’s niceness, eyes, and other parts of him on multiple occasions.

“Okay, so if I text him, ‘You don’t have to do this at all, but thank you so much, you’re the best,’ does that work?”

Rey nodded and resumed her show, quickly informing Finn what had happened in the episode. Once they had watched the last fifteen minutes, she stood up and cleaned up her dish. 

“Rey, he texted me back,” called Finn from the living room. “He said ‘no problem it suits you’ and then a different smiley face than before.”

“That sounds good, right?”

“Yes, because he’s the nicest person to ever exist. I don’t deserve this, Rey.”

She returned to the living room and sat next to Finn, letting him settle into the crook of her body. They passed the rest of the evening in similar fashion, with Rey explaining the backgrounds of all the competitors of Chopped and Finn bemoaning his pilot.

+++++

Fall had fully sunk its teeth into the weather, bringing stronger winds and rain, loud enough to be heard over Rey’s reading. Rey heard Finn open the door and she stuck a finger in her book to mark her place. She listened harder for a moment and could make out Finn humming something that sounded suspiciously like Pumped Up Kicks. His humming grew louder as he reached the chorus and moved into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. He danced into the living room, sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Rey.

She stared at Finn, who was eating his sandwich with one hand, typing on his phone with the other, and humming when he was not chewing.

“How did today go?” she asked after realizing that Finn was not going to pay her any attention.

“It went really well, actually. The luncheon thing went off without a hitch and Leia answered some asshole’s question’s really smoothly.” He paused to take a few bites of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully. “I also talked to Poe for about an hour today because Ben called and you know how Leia drops absolutely everything to talk to him.” He looked up and met Rey’s eyes, smiling wide. “He was really sweet and listened nicely and was super enthusiastic about stuff. Also he hasn’t met Ben, so I got to explain the situation to him.”

The situation, as Finn so aptly termed it, was this: Ben Organa, Han and Leia’s only child, was off in some far-away snowy country across the sea getting his master’s degree. He entered the same program his grandfather had been in, although Anakin, in the end, had decided that he hated it. Ben was still on the fence but told everyone he met that he truly loved it because it was quite a prestigious program with lots of history. Ben had two cronies in the program who followed him everywhere, which, to be honest, concerned Leia and Han quite a bit. They most definitely did not trust the professor in charge of the program, Professor Snoke, who had inherited the top position from Anakin’s professor, Palpatine.

“So her phone call with Ben took a while?”

“A while, yes,” agreed Finn. “And Ben hadn’t called in a really long time, actually, so Leia talked to him for about an hour. And since we wanted to give her privacy, Poe and I sat outside the helicopter and just hung out for the whole time. It was really great.” Finn sat back and smiled, humming a bit to himself. Rey opened her book and began to read, but before she could get farther than a sentence, Finn spoke again.

“What do you think of people who bite their lips?” 

“What?”

“I mean, people who bite their lip. Like this,” Finn said, demonstrating exaggeratedly. 

“I don’t really care either way,” said Rey. 

“Because I think it’s really attractive,” continued Finn. “And Poe does it almost all the time. It’s so frustrating, you know? Because he’s so hot already and then he goes and does something like that and it’s truly awful.” Finn smiled absentmindedly as he said so, humming to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poe is taking so long to text Finn because Poe is equally nervous and strives to appear Cool and Casual™ at all times.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? Actual weekly updates. You should be proud.

Leaves of all colors covered the sidewalk, loudly announcing the arrival of fall. Some fell on Rey as she rounded the final block before their apartment, music thumping in her ears and sweat beading on her face. It was the perfect day for a run; she had nothing else to do and a fine mist chilled the air around her. She began slowing down and was at a firm trot when she reached the lobby of their apartment building. Panting, she took the stairs two at a time, finally arriving at their floor without meeting anyone. 

She unlocked the door and threw her keys in the bowl, taking off her jacket before looking around. When she did, she looked right into the very sheepish eyes of her roommate. She had no idea what Finn could have done, but a rising suspicion told Rey that he had definitely done something. 

“What did you do?” she asked, removing her earbuds. She had only been gone an hour and a half, so nothing too bad could have happened. Although, she thought, there are many awful things that can happen in much less than an hour and a half.

Before Finn could explain, a red and white bull terrier came happily into view, scampering right up to Rey and nuzzling her legs. Rey kneeled down and pet the dog, scratching behind the ears as well as the dog’s wriggling body would allow. Rey looked up at Finn for an explanation.

“This is BB-8, she’s Poe’s dog,” started Finn. Rey raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to respond, but Finn continued quickly. “He’s been hired by some rich guy to do some stunt piloting which he really misses doing and he’s going to be gone for four days and he didn’t want to put her up at the vet’s because it’s expensive and not very good for dogs anyways. He was just talking about how he needed a sitter so I volunteered us, I hope that’s okay.”

Rey stood up and looked at the dog and then Finn. “Is he paying you?”

“Ah, no. I offered to do it for free.” Finn smiled pleadingly. “He gave us BB-8’s leash and food and food bowl and stuff like that, though. He dropped her off when you were gone.”

“You are such a softie, Finn.” She gave BB-8 one more good scratch and walked down the hall to take a shower. “I’m not exercising her today, I hope you know that.”

+

“Does she have a nickname? BB-8 is a little cumbersome, don’t you think?” asked Rey, freshly showered and hungry. Finn looked up from his spot on the floor where he was giving BB-8 an intensive belly rub.

“Yeah, Poe said he calls her BB a lot. But I heard him call her baby and also buddy, so I think she’ll respond to most things that sound like BB-8,” Finn said, with a rather dopey expression. Rey shook her head and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a banana and the jar of peanut butter.

“Peanut butter is good for dogs, right?” Rey took her spoon and filled it with peanut butter, showing it to BB-8 and whistling softly. The canine turned quickly out of Finn’s grasp and began licking the spoon as Rey giggled.

“She’s pretty sweet.”

“Yeah, Poe talks about her all the time, it’s adorable. She recently finished a dog training class and he was really proud of her, he kept showing me pictures of her in the little graduation cap they made her wear.” Finn moved to sit on the floor next to BB-8, who was leaning on Rey’s legs.

“When did he show you pictures of her?”

“Ben called Leia the other day, so we had a while. This was when he was talking about how he didn’t want to have her spend the weekend at the vet’s.”

Finn and Rey looked at BB-8, who was whacking her tail rhythmically on the couch at the mention of her owner, creating a steady drum. The roommates looked at each other and burst out laughing. 

“I can’t believe you offered to take care of his dog for free for four days.”

“Neither can I.”

+++++

“Finn? Where did you put BB’s leash?” called Rey the next morning.

“It’s next to the dog food, in the pantry,” he replied groggily from his room. “Why?”

“I was going to take her on a run. Do you think she likes runs?”

Finn emerged from his room, clad in flannel pajama pants and a very old shirt. “Yeah, I think Poe runs her all the time. Do you want me to ask him?”

Rey laughed. “No, I’m good, but you can text him anyways if you want to.”

Finn blushed and unlocked his phone, tapping out a message.

“Anyways, I’m going out, we’ll be back in a bit. Won’t we, BB-8?” 

BB-8 barked once and wagged her tail enthusiastically, which Rey took as a strong yes. 

+

About an hour later, Rey and BB-8 returned, sweaty and panting. Rey unlocked the door and unhooked BB-8’s leash, letting her roam free in the apartment. Or, in this case, straight to the water dish.

“Finn? We’re back,” Rey called. “Did Poe text you back?”

“Yeah, he did. He said that he wouldn’t be able to text much today though, because of the pilot thing,” Finn replied. Rey made her way into the kitchen, taking off her jacket on the way. 

“Did he mention anything about BB-8? Or were you too busy thinking about his face to talk about anything?” Rey grabbed a banana from behind where Finn was leaning against the counter and watching her with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes, he did, in fact. He said that BB loves long runs, she loves eating fruit, and she loves going to the park. He wants me to send him a picture of you and BB-8, actually.”

“He does?” Rey took one final bite of her banana and gave the last chunk of it to BB-8 before tossing the peel in the trash. “Why does he care about me?”

“He wants to, and I quote, ‘see the wonderful human who is taking care of his dog.’ Other than me, he meant.”

Rey considered the request for a moment, then crouched down next to BB-8, who immediately began wagging her tail. “Is this a good picture?”

“Yeah, perfect. You look all sweaty and like you’ve done things with the day.”

“Oh, shut up and take the picture, Finn.”

“I am, I am. Listen, we have to go to the park later today, okay?”

“We do?”

“Yes, Poe said that BB likes the park so we’re going to take her to the park and show Poe that I am a responsible person who takes into consideration what other people like to do.”

Rey laughed and stood up. “I’m going to take a shower and get dressed, and then we can go to the park, okay?”

Finn nodded, already texting Poe.

+

Finn, Rey, and BB-8 finally arrived at the park after twenty minutes of deliberation on Finn’s part of which park they should go to. Finn had decided on the one with the lake before realizing that there were no proper paths and therefore would include lots of mud. While Finn was deciding, Rey had prepared a picnic lunch for them, with sandwiches for herself and Finn and a banana for BB-8. 

The trio walked a few minutes before finding the perfect spot, away from any unwanted noise or people. BB-8 behaved excellently, wagging her tail the entire time and barking only occasionally. Finn, as was his new custom, wore Poe’s jacket, claiming that he just liked the feel when Rey knew that it reminded him of Poe. BB-8 seemed to recognize the jacket and wagged her tail harder when she first saw Finn put it on. He had leaned down to let her sniff it and she had let out a joyful yip, seemingly aware that it was formerly her owner’s.

Later, when the trio was leaving the park, a stranger stopped them. “Excuse me, what kind of dog is that?” she asked, pointing to BB-8. “She’s adorable.”

“Um, this is a bull terrier, I think,” replied Finn, looking down. “Her name’s BB-8, don’t ask me why. I can ask her owner exactly what kind she is, if you want?”

“Is she not your dog?” asked the woman.

“No, I’m petsitting for a friend,” said Finn. “Actually, he’s busy right now, so even if texted him, he wouldn’t respond. But I think she’s a bull terrier. Yeah, this is what a bull terrier looks like. He adopted her, though, but the vet thinks she’s purebred, or at least mostly purebred.” He stopped and looked at the stranger, who had an amused smile.

“You don’t have to text your friend, but thank you. Tell him that he has a beautiful dog, though. Have a nice day!” The woman walked off, leaving Finn with BB-8 and a smirking Rey.

“Don’t give me that look, Rey. I know what you’re thinking.”

+

Later that day, Finn had just finished measuring out BB-8’s food when he heard Rey calling him from the other room.

“Poe commented on your Instagram post of us and BB.”

Finn almost dropped BB-8’s bowl, catching it right before anything spilled. He set it down carefully in front of the dog and swallowed before standing up. 

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘loving the jacket, buddy,’ followed by the hundred emoji. He also liked the picture. You know, I could easily click on his profile right now. See his face in all its supposed glory.”

“No, Rey, don’t do that,” yelped Finn, rushing into the living room to reclaim his phone. 

“Why can’t I see his face? You’ve sent him over ten pictures of me and BB and posted us on Instagram. I need to see the object of your affection.”

“No, you don’t. Listen, when you see him, you should first see him in person, in his true majesty. He looks good in his pictures but that doesn’t come close to seeing him in real life. They don’t do him justice.”

Rey laughed, both at Finn’s earnest expression and his protestation. “You are so in love, Finn. I will humor you and not look at his profile, nor will I stalk him elsewhere online. I did do a cursory background check with Han right after you first met, and Han said he was a good kid. Although that isn’t much of a background check as Han calls anyone younger than him that he even remotely likes a good kid.”

Finn laughed at that, feeling immensely relieved.

+++++

The rest of the four days passed in similar fashion, with Rey and BB-8 going for a run in the morning and the three of them having a picnic lunch in the afternoon. They were regularly stopped by strangers asking what kind of dog BB-8 was, enough so that on the second visit to the park Finn actually did text Poe about what kind of dog BB-8 was. It turned out that she was, in fact, a bull terrier and probably purebred. 

On the morning of their last day together, Rey woke up early as usual, rolling over only to discover that BB-8 had taken up a large portion of the bed. Rey smiled sadly, knowing that BB-8 would go back to Poe later that day.

“Come on girl, let’s go. We’ve got a lot of stuff to pack in today.” Rey got dressed, fed BB-8, and grabbed the leash, putting it on the wriggling dog.

“Finn, we’re going on a run,” she called, receiving a sleepy groan in return.

+

Rey and BB-8 returned an hour later to find Finn awake and making pancakes. “I needed comfort food,” he said as way of explanation. Rey showered quickly and joined him in eating the pancakes, smothering them in syrup. The two friends talked quietly, occasionally petting BB-8. When they were full, Finn took a leftover pancake and spread peanut butter over it, giving it to BB-8, who took it gently.

“I think she liked it,” said Rey, smiling and covering her mouth with her hand.

“Yeah.” Finn looked down at the happy dog and smiled. “Poe’s coming over to pick her up around one,” he said. “Are you gonna be here?”

“Oh, no, I’ll be at work. Han wants me to help him with this one customer who has been particularly nasty in the past.”

“Okay, cool. Cool.” Finn paused, twirling his fork through extra puddles of syrup. “I hope Poe thinks BB-8 had a good time. Do you think he’ll think that she had a good time and that we took care of her okay?”

Rey paused in her scratching of BB-8’s ears. “Are you serious?” she asked, looking up at Finn. He nodded, brow furrowed slightly. “You’ve texted him pictures of you and BB at least ten times a day. They’ve all been of her having the time of her life, and half of them included your sunshiney self. I think he’s well aware that you’ve done a good job with her. He’s been texting you back happily, right? And you’re doing this for free, there’s no way he can complain.”

Finn breathed out, nodding his head.

“Finn. Listen. He knows that you did a great job with BB.” Rey took Finn’s hand and squeezed it, giving him a kiss on his forehead before putting their dishes away.

+

The sun had already set, the last vestiges of the red and orange sky lingering past their welcome above the apartment. Rey unlocked the door and stepped through the threshold. She eased the door closed and sagged against it, thoroughly exhausted. The nasty customer had been extremely awful, causing Han to charge him twice what he would charge a normal patron. However, Han and Rey had managed to fix the car as quickly as they could.

“Finn? Are you home?” called Rey as she shrugged off her jacket.

“Yeah, I’m in here.”

“How did the return go?” she asked, rounding the corner and finding Finn sprawled on the couch, cookie in hand. The cookie was bigger than Finn’s palm and looked soft and delicious. “Where did you get that? It looks wonderful.”

“Poe gave it to me, actually,” replied Finn. “He brought them with him, they’re from his favorite bakery next to his apartment. There’s a tin of them on the counter, you should have one. They taste amazing.”

Rey shrugged and grabbed a shortbread cookie, her favorite kind, biting into it carefully. “This is incredible. You said he brought these over?” She took a closer look at the huge cookie, marvelling at its butteriness. She ate another, larger bite.

“Yeah, as thanks for watching BB-8. He was really appreciative and thanked me profusely. He said he really enjoyed all the pictures, made him not miss her as much. God, he’s so adorable. But he was really thankful, and told me to thank you from him since he couldn’t tell you himself.” Finn paused, taking a bite of his cookie. 

“This is my fourth cookie today. I can’t stop eating them. Did you know he knows the owner of the bakery personally? And that he’s been going there for years, enough so that he was invited to her fiftieth anniversary? Apparently she’s adorable with her wife, who she married as soon as she could. Poe knows everything about everyone he talks to and it’s the sweetest thing, he’s so concerned with how other people are doing.” Finn groaned and sank back into the couch, taking another large bite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poe spent about fifteen minutes deciding whether to write lovin, lovin’, or loving on his comment on Finn’s Instagram post. It involved him stress eating an entire bag of microwave popcorn and texting Jess Pava frantically. She only laughed at him.
> 
> The owner of the bakery is Maz Kanata. Poe came in and asked for the best batch of cookies possible and she laughed at him because all of her batches of cookies are the best. Then she humored him and told him that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, or so she’s heard.
> 
> A bull terrier's head looks a lot like a chisel. They also look a lot like [this.](https://www.google.com/search?q=bull+terrier&espv=2&biw=1422&bih=725&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHh_rX4pTLAhVN5mMKHaOWBmAQ_AUIBigB&dpr=0.9)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter left for this section!

Rey sat at her usual perch, scrubbing the grease away from an extremely dented axle, occasionally looking out the nearby window. The sun had set long ago and the window only showed darkness past the glass. They were near closing time, and since no one was in sight, she thought Han might let her go early. She loved her job, she really did, but she was tired and Finn had gotten home from his five-day business trip earlier that day. Although he had still had to go to work, she thought that Leia might let him off early, too. Han and Leia were great bosses, in that way. 

Rey looked up as she saw two slumping figures enter the shop. They looked familiar, and she cocked her head as she tried to figure out if she knew them. They walked closer to her and she realized that it was Leia and Finn. Rey stood up, set down her brush, and walked across the shop to the pair. Finn and Leia looked up at her quick footsteps, grinning tiredly when they saw who it was.

“Finn!” She cried, giving him a huge hug that he happily reciprocated. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Who’s that?” called a gruff voice from a bit farther in the shop. Han began walking towards them, barely noticeably picking up speed when he recognized his wife. “Leia, I thought you said you’d meet me at home?”

“I just couldn’t wait to see you,” she said, reaching up to kiss him gently on the lips. 

“Well, we’re closing for the night then. Chewie,” he called, “start closing up, okay?” He turned back to Leia and Finn, motioning for them to go to the back room. “Rey, keep them occupied while Chewie and I close up.” 

Rey nodded and walked with the pair to the back room, sitting around a table covered in scratches, paint, and remnants of old stickers. Various games were stacked in the corner, ranging from Trivial Pursuit to Monopoly, the latter of which had only been played once because Chewie threw his game piece when he lost quite badly to Finn. 

“So you came here just because you missed Han?” asked Rey, smiling gently.

“Well, yes, but also because we wanted to be around people that we actually enjoy,” replied Leia. “That’s not always easy to find in the Senate. We also found this new game that we thought would be fun to play, and since we had to cancel the last game night due to unfortunate circumstances, today would be as good as any.”

Rey’s smile widened as she nodded, continuing to chat with Finn and Leia until Han and Chewie finished up. The five of them talked for a bit and then Han, Chewie, and Leia got into a bit of an argument, leaving Finn and Rey to get up and sit in the far comfier chairs on the other side of the room.

“Poe and I had another long conversation today,” Finn began, wrapping his hands around his mug of hot chocolate and staring at the marshmallowy blob that had formed from the marshmallows Rey had tossed in. 

“Again? This is becoming commonplace, isn’t it.”

“Yeah, Ben called Leia again today. They talked for a while, so Poe and I hung out near the helicopter and just talked about stuff.” Finn took a long slurp of his cocoa, allowing Rey to overhear Han, Leia, and Chewie’s conversation, which had turned more mundane.

“Really? Ben called?” asked Han. Rey tilted her head so she could hear better, ignoring Finn’s start of poetics about Poe. 

“That’s what I told Finn,” replied Leia, earning a chuckle from Han. Rey frowned, considering what that meant.

“Rey? Are you here?” asked Finn, waving his hand in front of her face. 

“Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something else for a second.”

Finn frowned, taking another sip. “I asked Poe about BB-8. He said that she’s doing really well and that he’s sure that she misses us. He also mentioned that she follows him around whenever he has a banana now.” Finn looked at Rey, who feigned surprise before they both laughed. 

They looked up as Chewie towered over them, holding the game inquiringly and saying something that they were pretty sure was him asking if they wanted to play.

“Uh, sure,” said Finn, standing up and cradling his dwindling hot chocolate. They walked over to the table and set it up, spending a bit longer than necessary to figure out how to play. The five of them played a few rounds, with Chewie narrowly scraping first place while Finn managed to lose his first place standing in the last play of the game every time. 

Once everyone began yawning and surreptitiously looking at the clock, they came to a unanimous decision to go home, happily saying goodbye with hugs. Leia and Han walked from the shop to their cars arm in arm, trailed by Chewie, Finn, and Rey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben totally put those stickers on when he was younger and looked up to his dad. He wanted to be like Han when he grew up, so he was in the shop as often as he could. This changed once Ben became a teenager. Han still looks fondly at the table and has not yet found the will to get a newer one.


	5. Chapter 5

Rey was wrapped in a blanket and curled up on the couch watching the newest season of Iron Chef. She had a definite soft spot for cooking shows, probably stemming from her less than mediocre fare as a child. Her phone rang and she picked it up, seeing that it was from Leia. She paused the tv and answered, her demeanor shifting from content and safe to broken and distraught as she listened. Her hands shook and she nodded, unaware that Leia could not see her. Tears fell silently, and she moved her hand to wipe at her nose. She listened more and nodded a few times, sniffling.

“Okay, Leia. Thank you for telling me. I’d rather not come over for dinner, if that’s fine with you. I think I’ll stay here. Thank you.” Rey hung up, staring at her phone in shock.

It had taken Rey completely off guard. One moment, everything was fine. Finn was going to come home in a few minutes and she was going to make a new recipe and then they would watch Star Trek. The next, she received a phone call from Finn’s boss, telling her that Finn had been in a car accident. A drunk driver had t-boned Finn, hitting the driver side. 

It was not Finn’s fault, reported Leia. She sounded calm and gentle. Leia had been in the car behind Finn as they were leaving her office. She had seen the entire thing. Finn had been rushed to the hospital. He was in a mild coma. That happens sometimes in bad car accidents, Leia said. Finn’s left arm was broken in three places. The drunk driver was fine. The drunk driver’s car had a serious dent in the front. Leia was fine. She had slammed on the brakes. She had called the police and the ambulance as soon as she saw it happen. 

Rey took this all in, barely processing it other than the fact that Finn was in the hospital. In a coma. Finn, her bff forever. Leia had said that the doctors thought he would be okay once he woke up, but that did not stop the wave of panic rising in her throat. Unconsciously, Rey breathed harder and harder, wheezing and sobbing with no one to comfort her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (:  
> Remember, this is just part one in a three part series. More is to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](finntroopers.tumblr.com).


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